Damon Weaver: Tears flow as one of the youngest reporters to interview Barack Obama dies aged 23
- Damon Weaver interviewed former US president Obama in 2009 when he was just 11 years old
- Weaver also scored high profile interviews with celebrities such as Dwayne Johnson and Oprah Winfrey
- The 23-year-old passed away on May 1, 2021, but the cause of his death was not immediately disclosed
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Damon Weaver, who was one of the youngest reporters to interview former United States (US) President Barack Obama has passed on aged 23.
Source: UGC
Weaver got the unique chance to interview Obama at the White House when he was only 11-year-old in 2009.
According to a report by CNN, the young man breathed his last on May 1, 2021, in Florida but the cause of his demise was not immediately revealed.
His family convened at the St. John’s First Baptist Church in Belle Glade, Florida on Saturday, May 15, to celebrate Weaver's life with his sister describing him as the life of the party.
"Everybody just couldn’t wait to be around him. Family gatherings, they were always fun just because of his presence,” Hardy Weaver, his sister said.
Without revealing much information about his death, Hardy said she got a text from his brother telling her he was in the hospital but by the time she was arriving, he had already passed on.
Interviewing Obama
In 2009, a young weaver warmed hearts after interviewing Obama about all things education.
"You did a great job in this interview, somebody must be doing it right back at school," the former president lauded him after their conversation
Before then, he had interviewed Joseph R. Biden Jr in 2008 who was then Obama's running mate.
He had also scored high profile meetings with celebrities such as Dwayne Johnson and Oprah Winfrey.
In a separate story, YEN.com.gh also reported when a former White House butler who served 11 presidents succumbed to COVID-19 in March 2021.
Wilson Roosevelt Jerman died aged 91 and had worked at the White House for 55 years where he started as a cleaner and rose through the ranks to become a butler by fostering relationships with successive heads of state.
Jerman worked for former president Eisenhower as well as Obama whose wife Michelle Obama had an iconic photo of the late butler together with the Obama's in an elevator in her award-winning book Becoming.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
Nathaniel Crabbe (Human-Interest editor) Nathaniel Crabbe is a journalist and editor with a degree in Journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism, where he graduated in 2015. He earned his master's from UPSA in December 2023. Before becoming an editor/writer of political/entertainment and human interest stories at Asaase Radio, Crabbe was a news reporter at TV3 Ghana. With experience spanning over ten years, he now works at YEN.com.gh as a human interest editor. You can reach him via nathaniel.crabbe@yen.com.gh.
Aba Afful (Copyeditor) Maame Aba serves as a copy editor at YEN.com.gh. She naturally enjoys working with words and has an eye for quality content. She has a keen interest in cyberspace and wants to see YEN.com.gh produce more impactful, thought-provoking, and error-free content. Aba has five years of experience as a content writer, blogger, author, and proofreader. She graduated from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2017. She joined the team in 2021.
